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Good morning. During last night’s 24-3 Jets win, Aaron Rodgers finally looked like Aaron Rodgers, completing 27 of 35 passes for 281 yards and two touchdowns. Also, the 2-1 Jets relieved a little bit of urgency to resolve their Haason Reddick saga, recording seven sacks. Full takeaways here.
Today:
- NFL trending back toward run
- How Jim Harbaugh does it
- 2025 QB Class: Three to watch
- Faith in New York?
Underlying Trends: Passing stats are WAY down, but …
Offenses are struggling this year, especially in the passing game. Just ask any Bears fan (who must trust the process).
Entering Week 3, the league-wide averages of 193.6 passing yards and 1.1 touchdowns per game rank as the lowest marks in both categories in a single season since 1978, before the “Mel Blount rule” was introduced to the limit contact between corners and receivers to five yards. Back then, the highest-paid player was a running back (O.J. Simpson) making $733K.
Why are passing offenses reverting to the ’70s?
For one, quarterbacks are younger than ever. Last year, Mike Sando noted that starting NFL quarterbacks were younger than they’d been in 60 years. At the time, their average age was just 27.8 years. This year, they’re even younger, with Week 1’s 32 starting QBs averaging 27.6. This comes with all sorts of growing pains, as Bo Nix is learning in Denver.
The bigger reason: After years of pass-heavy approaches, a return to the physical run game against lighter defenses (and two-high safeties) is working. Teams are averaging 4.5 yards per carry, tied with 2022 for the best mark in NFL history, and 124.9 rushing yards per game, the most since 1987. They are throwing less (just 30.3 pass attempts per game, about three fewer than last year), but not running much more (27.5 attempts compared to 26.8 last year), just running better.
What a perfect time for Jim Harbaugh’s return, it turns out. Speaking of the ground-and-pound aficionado:
What Dianna’s Hearing: Harbaugh’s literally hands-on approach
On the Friday episode of the “Scoop City” Podcast, Daniel Popper, The Athletic’s Chargers beat writer, joined co-host Chase Daniel (a former Charger himself) and me to talk about, among other things, what life is like with Jim Harbaugh. Here’s a snippet:
Chase: What has he done, specifically, to completely make this turnaround? Because I [know] the Chargers needed a huge culture change — but not only from the head coach and the players, but even from ownership at times.
Daniel: People use this buzzword “culture” a lot, but what does it really mean, and how do you build it? That’s really what I’ve been watching. And I think it’s just little stuff.
Like, during the spring and training camp, they would do these post-practice, fourth-quarter finishers, where they’re flipping sleds and dragging people around and all this heavy work. Jim Harbaugh is out there for every single one of those fourth-quarter finishing drills. He’s partnered up with rookie LB Junior Colson, flipping sleds.
And before games, for example, he’s out there in cleats with blue football gloves on, catching passes from Justin Herbert and the other quarterbacks.
It looks silly, and you think it’s corny when you watch it, but the players buy into it because, “This guy’s in the trenches with us. He cares as much as we do.” If you can build that, then guys will go out there and play with the level of physicality that we’re seeing from the team so far.
Regular reminder that Harbaugh played 14 seasons in the NFL.
Back to you, Jacob.
2025 QB Class: Three to know
Most NFL fans are familiar with Shedeur Sanders (Deion’s son) and Quinn Ewers (currently injured as the next Manning starts for Texas), but many other quarterbacks could vault up 2025 draft boards.
While we might not see a Jayden Daniels-like ascension from the middle of the pack to the No. 2 overall pick, The Athletic’s NFL Draft expert Dane Brugler shared three quarterback prospects with a chance to significantly rise throughout the process:
- Alabama’s Jalen Milroe: “Built like a running back at 6-1 and 225 pounds, Milroe is a true dual-threat with his 4.4 speed and arm strength to threaten every inch of the field. In several ways, he reminds me of a rocket-fueled version of Jalen Hurts when he was coming out of Oklahoma.”
- Miami’s Cameron Ward: “Ward is off to a hot start with the Hurricanes (11-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio), but he won the September Heisman last year at Washington State before better competition shined a light on his bad habits. With more talent around him in 2024, Ward will receive first-round consideration if his ball placement and decision-making stay consistent all season.”
- LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier: “He reminds me a lot of Tony Romo with his quarterbacking mannerisms and ability to consistently move the chains, even if there are a few ill-advised decisions each game. The son of an NFL quarterbacks coach, Nussmeier has the pedigree and internal wiring that NFL teams desire.”
For more prospects to watch, you’ll want to read Dane’s NFL Draft mailbag and check out The Athletic’s Jayna Bardahl’s excellent Until Saturday newsletter.
Your Thoughts: There you are, Giants believers
Yesterday’s poll asked you to pick one 0-2 team to make the playoffs. It was a tight race between the Bengals (41 percent) and Ravens (36 percent), then a massive gap. I thought the most interesting takeaway was how the other seven 0-2 teams stacked up:
Weekend Watch Guide 📺
With Week 3 underway for your both your NFL and fantasy teams, I wanted to quickly check in with The Athletic’s fantasy guru Jake Ciely on some fast starts.
The Chargers, Saints and Buccaneers are all 2-0, largely due to the success of J.K. Dobbins, Rashid Shaheed and Baker Mayfield. For fantasy football, which player do you trust most going forward, Jake?
“It might surprise some, but I’ll go with Shaheed. To be clear, I’m buying Dobbins, just buying Shaheed more. He’s as involved as Chris Olave, even on first and second down targets, and Derek Carr is going to take a shot downfield at least once per game. Shaheed may not be top-15, but he’s certainly top-30 in my book.”
Their Week 3 schedule, and ours:
Sunday at 1 p.m. ET: Dobbins and the Chargers look to go 3-0 against a Steelers team readying to start Justin Fields as Russell Wilson remains plagued by his calf injury.
- Chargers at Steelers (CBS)
- Packers at Titans (FOX)
- Eagles at Saints (FOX)
- Giants at Browns (FOX)
- Texans at Vikings (CBS)
- Bears at Colts (CBS)
- Broncos at Buccaneers (FOX)
Sunday at 4:05 p.m. or 4:25 p.m. ET: Maybe the sole problem in Carolina was Bryce Young? We’ll find out this weekend when Andy Dalton starts in Las Vegas.
- Panthers at Raiders (CBS)
- Dolphins at Seahawks (CBS)
- Ravens at Cowboys (FOX)
- 49ers at Rams (FOX)
- Lions at Cardinals (FOX)
Sunday at 8:20 p.m. ET:
Monday at 7:30 and 8:15 p.m. ET:
- Jaguars at Bills (ESPN)
- Commanders at Bengals (ABC)
Need tickets? Go here. For streaming info on Fubo, click here.
Before we go, a quick note on rookies. C.J. Stroud did more to set unrealistic expectations on rookie quarterbacks than anyone in recent history. But don’t forget that he started his career 0-2, losing two fumbles and taking 11 sacks. Let’s give Caleb Williams, Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels another week and then some.
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(Photo: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
